Beetle Bailey

Beetle Bailey
Author(s) Mort Walker (scripts, 1950–present)
Mort Walker (art, 1950–present), Brian, & Greg Walker (scripts, 198?–present)[1]
Current status / schedule Running
Launch date September 4, 1950
Syndicate(s) King Features Syndicate
Genre(s) Humor, Gag-a-day
A page from the comic book version of Beetle Bailey.

Beetle Bailey (begun on September 4, 1950)[2] is an American comic strip created by cartoonist Mort Walker. Set in a fictional United States Army military post, it is among the oldest comic strips still being produced by the original creator.[1] Over the years, Mort Walker has been assisted by (among others) Jerry Dumas, Bob Gustafson, Frank Johnson and Walker's sons Neal, Brian and Greg Walker. The latter is currently credited on the strip.

Overview

Beetle was originally a college student at Rockview University. The characters in that early strip were modeled after Walker's fraternity brothers at the University of Missouri. On March 13, 1951, during the strip's first year, Beetle quit school and enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he has remained ever since.

Most of the humor in Beetle Bailey revolves around the inept characters stationed at Camp Swampy (inspired by Camp Crowder, where Walker had once been stationed while in the Army), which is located near the town of Hurleyburg[3] at "Parris Island, S.C.".[4] Private Bailey is a lazy sort who usually naps and avoids work, and thus is often the subject of verbal and physical chastising from his supervisor, Sergeant Snorkel. The characters never seem to see combat themselves, with the exception of mock battles and combat drills. In fact, they seem to be in their own version of stereotypical comic strip purgatory (initially basic training, they now appear to be stuck in time in a regular infantry division). The uniforms of Beetle Bailey are still the uniforms of the late 1940s to early 1970s Army, with green fatigues and baseball caps as the basic uniform, and the open jeep as the basic military vehicle. Sergeant First Class Snorkel wears a green Class A Army dress uniform with heavily wrinkled garrison cap; the officers wear M1 helmet liners painted with their insignia. While Beetle Bailey's unit is Company A, one running gag is that the characters are variously seen in different branches of the Army, such as artillery, armor, infantry and paratroops.

Beetle is always seen with a hat or helmet covering his forehead and eyes. Even on leave, his "civvies" include a pork pie hat worn in the same style. He can only be seen without it once—in the original strip when he was still a college student. The strip was pulled and never ran in any newspaper. It has only been printed in various books on the strip's history.[5] One daily strip had Sarge scare Beetle's hat off, but Beetle was wearing sunglasses.

One running gag has Sergeant Snorkel hanging helplessly from a small tree branch after having fallen off a cliff (first time August 16, 1956). While he is never shown falling off, or even walking close to the edge of a cliff, he always seems to hold on to that same branch, yelling for help. This gag may have spawned the segment of the children's show Between the Lions featuring a person named Cliff Hanger, who, like Sergeant Snorkel, is hanging from a cliff in each feature.

Characters and story

Beetle Bailey is unusual in having one of the largest and most varied permanent casts of any comic strip. While many of the older characters are rarely seen, almost none have been completely retired.

Main characters

Supporting characters

Retired characters

The early strip was set at Rockview University. When Beetle joined the Army, all of the other characters were dropped (although both incarnations of the strip include a spectacled intellectual named Plato). Four characters from the original cast (Bitter Bill, Diamond Jim, Freshman, and Sweatsock) made at least one appearance, in the January 5, 1963 strip.[21][22]

Extras, one-shots and walk-ons

Beetle's family, etc.:

Camp Swampy:

Numerous one-shot characters have appeared over the years, mostly unnamed, including an inspector general who looks like Alfred E. Neuman,[25] and various officers and civilians. Among the few to be given names is Julian, a nondescript chauffeur eventually replaced by Julius.[26]

Censorship

For the most part, Walker's relationship with the real-life U.S. Army has been cordial. But not always. During the early 1950s, the strip was dropped from the Tokyo edition of Stars and Stripes because it allegedly encouraged disrespect for officers. The civilian press made a huge joke of that, and the ensuing publicity gave the young strip its first big boost in circulation.

As with most other American comic strips, Beetle Bailey has been censored from time to time. In 1962, the comic strip was censored because it showed a belly button, and in 2006, the description of Rocky's criminal past was replaced with a non-criminal past.

Self-censoring

Sometimes Mort Walker creates strips with raunchy subject matter for his own amusement. This is done at the sketch stage, and those strips are never meant to be published in the USA. They "end up in a black box in the bottom drawer", according to Walker. These sketches are sometimes published in Scandinavia, however, with a translation underneath. In Norway, they've appeared in the Norwegian Beetle Bailey comic book, Billy, with the cover of the comic marked to show it contains censored strips. To offset any possible negative reaction, the publisher experimented with "scrambling" the strips in the mid-1990s. To see them, the reader had to view them through a "de-scrambling" plastic card. This was discontinued soon afterwards, and the strips today are printed without scrambling. In Sweden, some of these strips were collected in the "Alfapocket" series.[27]

Animation

A TV version of the strip, consisting of 50 six-minute animated cartoon shorts produced by King Features Syndicate, was animated by Paramount Cartoon Studios in the USA and Artransa Film Studios in Sydney, Australia, and was first broadcast in 1963. The opening credits included the sound of a bugle reveille, followed by a theme song specifically composed for the cartoon:

He's the military hero of the nation
Though he doesn't always follow regulation
At the sound of reveille
He is here for you to see
And we know you'll laugh at Private Beetle Bailey—
(Beetle Bailey!)
Ask the General, Colonel, Major and the Captain,
The Lieutenant and the Sergeant and the Corporal,
They will tell you with a shout
They would gladly live without
A certain Private by the name of Beetle Bailey—
(Beetle Bailey!)(BEETLE BAILEY!!!)

The repeat of the name of Beetle Bailey is heard by an angry Sgt. Snorkel.

Beetle was voiced by comic actor and director Howard Morris with Allan Melvin as the voice of Sarge. Other King Features properties, such as Snuffy Smith and Krazy Kat, also appeared in the syndicated series, under the collective title: Beetle Bailey and His Friends. June Foray did the voice of Bunny, plus all of the female characters involved.

Beetle Bailey episodes

1989 special

A 30-minute animated TV special co-written by Mort Walker and Hank Saroyan was produced for CBS in 1989, but did not air due to management changes at the CBS network.[28] It has been released on DVD alongside the 1960's cartoon. Greg Whalen played Beetle, Bob Bergen portrayed Killer, Henry Corden was Sgt. Snorkel, Frank Welker was both Zero and Otto, Linda Gary voiced both Miss Buxley and Ms. Blips, and General Halftrack was Larry Storch. This special was one of a number of specials made in the same timeframe by King Features/Hearst for TV as potential series pilots; others included Blondie & Dagwood (co-produced with Marvel Productions, who had also collaborated with King Features for the Defenders of the Earth series a few years before) and Hägar the Horrible (co-produced with Hanna-Barbera Productions).

Musical

In 1988, a musical based on the strip premiered at Candlewood Playhouse in New Fairfield, Conn., for a limited run. Music and lyrics were by Neil and Gretchen Gould. In addition to the familiar characters from the strip, the plot introduced a wayward computer that promoted Bailey to three-star general.[29]

Licensing

Further reading

(All titles by Mort Walker. Published by Ace Tempo/Grosset & Dunlap, unless otherwise noted.)

Beyond the strip

References

  1. 1 2 Colton, David (May 26, 2010). "'Beetle Bailey' marches on, with artist Mort Walker leading". USA Today. Retrieved June 19, 2010.
  2. Walker, Mort (2008). Thorsjö, Alf, ed. Beetle Bailey 1950–1952. Egmont Kärnan AB/Checker Book Publishing Group. p. 6. ISBN 978-1-933160-71-9. OCLC 191244495.
  3. Fruhlinger, Josh (June 18, 2014). "She already has a crown, General, you'd better watch yourself". The Comics Curmudgeon. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
  4. Hi and Lois December 28, 2014
  5. anyone have an image of Beetle Bailey strip where his eyes are shown?
  6. Beetle's eyes are seen in the animated cartoon "Son of a Gun of a Gun" (1963) at 4 minutes 42 seconds.
    He's hiding from Sgt. Snorkel in a civil war cannon—and in a few seconds it's going to be fired off at a ceremony.
    Gen. Halftrack: Now, remember, Sergeant: fire the cannon when Gen. Gonzales extends his arms to greet me.
    Sgt. Snorkel: Yes, sir!
    (4:42) Beetle's wide-open eyes are seen in the dark mouth of the cannon blinking 5 times.
    Gen. Halftrack: Here he comes now! — Now, Sergeant!
    Beetle is fired up into the air with his duty cover still on his head and over his eyes—as usual.
    Source: beetle bailey ® The Complete Collection: 13 Episodes on 2 DVDs!, Disc One, episode 6, "Son of a Gun of a Gun" © Manufactured under license Hearst Entertainment for Exclusively [sic] distribution by Mill Creek Entertainment. The Mill Creek logo is a trademark of Mill Creek Entertainment ©2009. All Rights Reserved. 'Copyright information verbatim from DVD case'
  7. [A 1966 spoof of Batman called "Fatman and Slobber" shows Beetle Bailey's eyes in a face mask! See .
  8. Hi and Lois comic December 28, 2014
  9. Beetle Bailey January 27. 2015
  10. Hi and Lois comic March 17, 2015
  11. [Beetle Bailey August 20, 1971]
  12. "The DailyINK Facebook page". Retrieved 2013-06-24.
  13. Walker, Mort (2008-04-02). "Beetle Bailey". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  14. 1 2 "Mort Walker (BSS #216) | The Bat Segundo Show & Follow Your Ears". Edrants.com. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  15. Beetle Bailey comic November 29, 2015
  16. 1 2 "Here's Chip Gizmo". Government Computer News. Retrieved 2007-11-28.
  17. 1 2 Gregory Sanford. "Voice from the Vault" (PDF). Retrieved 2013-06-30.
  18. February 17, 1957 Sunday strip, reprinted in Walker, The Best of Beetle Bailey, February 10, 1963 Sunday strip, reprinted in Walker, At Ease, Beetle Bailey (New York: Grosset & Dunlap/Tempo, 1970).
  19. June 26, 1958 and December 19, 1983 strips, reproduced in Walker, The Best of Beetle Bailey.
  20. Various strips reproduced in ibid.
  21. Quotations and documentation of characters from: Mort Walker, The Best of Beetle Bailey (New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1984)
  22. Walker, Mort (2008). Alf Thorsjö, ed. Billy. Den komplette samlingen striper og søndagssider (in Norwegian). 1963–1964 (1 ed.). Egmont Serieforlaget. p. 12. ISBN 978-82-429-3693-6.
  23. "Just Cartoons Only: Beetle Bailey - ArcaMax Publishing: Beetle Bailey for 7/16/2012". Justcartoonsonly.blogspot.in. 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  24. "MAD About Beetle | Tom's MAD Blog!". Tomrichmond.com. 2012-12-30. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  25. March 27, 1967 strip, reprinted in Walker, I Don't Want to be Out Here Any More Than You Do, Beetle Bailey (New York: Grosset & Dunlap/Tempo, 1970). ISBN 0-448-12256-1
  26. July 5, 1964 Sunday strip, reprinted in Walker, At Ease, Beetle Bailey (New York: Grosset & Dunlap/Tempo, 1970). ISBN 0-448-12255-3
  27. Alfapocket - listing at Grand Comics Database.
  28. Walker, Brian. "Beetle Bailey TV Cartoons – Part 3".
  29. http://www.nytimes.com/1988/06/12/nyregion/theater-pvt-beetle-bailey-breaking-into-song.html
  30. Beetle Bailey (1989) at the Internet Movie Database
  31. http://www.allmovie.com/dvd/177386. Retrieved August 1, 2010. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  32. "WWII MB GPW BEETLE BAILEY JEEP DIE CAST 1:18 SCALE N (04/05/2011)". Worthpoint.com. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  33. "Willys Diecast Cars, 1:18 Scale - Scale18 1/18 Scale Diecast Model Cars, Since 1997". Scale18.org. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  34. "Beetle Bailey". Beetlebaileydrx.com. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  35. "Dr. Romanelli x Bamford : Popeye vs Beetle Bailey Rolexes". Luxuryes. 2012-06-12. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
  36. http://www.forbes.com/sites/allenstjohn/2014/05/12/in-a-startling-episode-705-mad-men-meets-threes-company-and-the-walking-dead/
  37. http://blogs.amctv.com/mad-men/2014/05/mad-mens-1960s-handbook-mort-drucker/
  38. Archived April 14, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  39. "Sculpture of Beetle Bailey". Muarchives.missouri.edu. Retrieved 2013-09-03.
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